These rumors CAN'T be true...
Bonnie Sweeten, another lying white woman.Update: June 5, 2009 @ 4:27pm
I found another good analysis on "the black guy did it" liars out there: Top 5 “The Black Guy Did It” Excuses By White Criminals
Update: June 2, 2009 @ 6:34pm
This is a good article that talks about the and other cases:
'Black Man Did it' Hoax Sparks Outrage
Sorry, but why can't they be true?
Okay, let me give you the background first. I'm in the Philadelphia suburbs right now. There is a case involving Bonnie Sweeten. She called 911 claiming that she and her daughter had been abducted by black men on some busy street in a Philadelphia township. She allegedly called from the trunk of the car where she and her daughter had been thrown.
The first question is, um, why didn't anyone see this? This was a busy road.
Can it be another case of a lying white woman?
Um, yes. Because she was found with her daughter at Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida.
They're trying to figure out what drove her to concoct this huge damn lie.
Oh, get this. Before she left she had the brilliant idea to ask her friend if she could use her friend's driver's license. She made up some b.s. story and her friend let her take it. It ends up that she bought air tickets and got through airport security using her friend's identity.
What irks me is the content of her lie. Just like the Jennifer Wilbanks, the runaway bride from a few years ago; Susan Smith, child murder; or Peggy Seltzer, the liar who escalated it to the point where she wrote a memoir, you've got a lie revolving around minorities and crime.
Now the news agencies are running around Philly and interviewing friends and family. Everyone is claiming shock. Everyone is talking about what a great person she is.
You know what? If this woman were black the news agencies wouldn't be taking this angle at all. Friends who were claiming surprise wouldn't even get any camera time. Instead, they'd have analysts talking about the criminal mind or some b.s. like that.
I was watching Bonnie's husband being interviewed on a morning news show this morning. He had the audacity to tell people not to believe the rumors swirling around her. Okay. I understand that he wants her to get a fair shot. But then he went on to say the rumors can't be true.
Sorry, dude, these rumors most definitely CAN be true.
It's just that from what I can see, even if they are, people will still make excuses for her. It's going to be the stress of the economy, a bad childhood, or some mental illness she's suddenly diagnosed with. Another case of a poor white woman simply unable to control her urge to lie and implicate blacks or other minorities while she's at it.
It's irritating to see another case of a blatant liar is getting every benefit of the doubt and given every excuse under the sun. Then when a black woman like myself sees a clear difference in how it's handled and how everyone is struggling to accept that she indeed just might be a bad person, I risk being accused of playing that dreaded race card. You know what? I'm in pretty good company because I'm not the only person upset by this case.
Look, if race still wasn't such a huge factor in so many things out there, I wouldn't mention it. Yes, my country now has a black president. There is progress for sure, but there is so much more than needs to evolve and change.
It would be a done deal if black Bonnie told this lie that she'd be on the fast track to some time in jail. Let's see what's going to happen to white Bonnie.
An AOL news summary of her case: http://news.aol.com/article/mother-daughter-missing-pennsylvania/499825
Some other bloggers on this topic:
PoliceMag: There Should Be a Special Punishment for This Crime (I agree.)
The Field Negro: Next time blame the Mexican guy. You might have more luck. (Ha!)
Essence.com: Stop Demonizing "Black Men" (Mother Faked Kidnapping) (she goes through quite a few former cases of liars capitalizing on race.) Sphere: Related Content
Regina spot on and you are right the husband was making excuses like she is a good mother and I am like you are a fool! Dummy,she took your daughter.
ReplyDeleteAlso a couple of her friends were in disbelief not believing she would be capable of doing such a horrible thing saying oh she has a lot of pressure on her and she was going through financial problems. HUHH are we all not going through something?
I mean that is no excuse to take over 300,000 from your boss and then lie and say black men abducted you. In addition, I would lock her up for at least 20 for wasting unnecessary police time looking for a fake boogie man that didn't exist.
Actually, the child she took was one she'd had with her previous husband. However, she left her teenager and newborn behind.
ReplyDeleteIt all just seems really odd and not well thought out. I mean, really, if you're going to tell this huge whopper of a lie then have a plan and think it through. That's no guarantee that you won't get caught, but this women just sounds stupid.
The thing is I wonder what excuse(s) she's going to rely on because God forbid she just admits to telling a big nasty lie.
Yeah I just saw on the Today show the husband is supporting her and doesn't believe she stole money from various people including her own family. Also he said the ex-husband and the whole entire family stand behind her.
ReplyDeleteI am like she needs to be charged with theft and I could care less if she won't be able to see her daughter again,she should have thought about that before she stole money.However the people she stole money from support her and want to work out a deal behind the scenes.
I am like are you on drugs, I want her in jail because money doesn't grow on trees. LOL
Back up. Even if she does time, which she probably won't, she'd be entitled to see her children. Something like this is already horrible enough. You don't want to deny a child access to their mother, even if mom is in jail.
ReplyDeleteIf no one is going to press charges, she'll get off easy. My point isn't so much throw her to the wolves, but that when the woman is white it always seems that people are rushing to her defense and claiming this is soooooooooooooo out of character. It seems that only women of color are habitual liars, cheats and thieves.
I'm pretty sure they'll press charges against her and I'm one who is color-blind when it comes to good people and bad.
ReplyDeleteWe're not all idiots who think that color depicts character...thank Gosh!
Donna
It's a societal pattern, unfortunately. Too bad so many are in denial over its reach.
ReplyDeleteRegarding this case, we'll see. Last I'd heard, she was back in the area and had appeared before a judge. The judge thought she was a flight risk, so ordered $1M in bail. Folks paid it and now she's out.
I guess that's the rub. In contrast, most women of color wouldn't have the resources or the help and would be festering in jail. Again, societal legacies and realities meet when these cases come up and the difference in how suspects get treated is shamefully clear.
As a white (South African born) woman I must agree with you - if she was black, she'd be in jail and no-one would be talking about it.
ReplyDeleteAll my life that I've been able to think about what people do and how they do it I've battled against the apartheid in my own country and the race differentiation in other countries (oh, and include gender in that)
What I really hate about this is that it makes the rest of us white women look like her - making the black man the boogie man, WHICH WE DON'T. Not all of us.
I agree. It's a problem when someone does it because it skews perception. Good for me, I've been blessed with good friends of all races. Right now, I'm imposing upon the hospitality of a white female friend of mine, so I'm not running around thinking all white people or white women are a certain way.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is when people like this Sweeten woman capitalize on generalizations and stereotypes for their own gain. People start claiming racism and not acknowledging that we've had cases of it too. The other side gets defensive because they feel attacked. It gets nasty and no one talks about it.
There are good and bad people of all races. Enough where we ought not be stuck in these ridiculous games. Unfortunately, we are.
Yeah Regina I'd hate to see her thrown to the wolves, but let's be honest black men and women get thrown to the wolves all of the time and Sweeten should receive the same.
ReplyDeleteThere are innocent black men in jail right now based upon a WHITE LIE so if they have to suffer so should she but like you said she won't and she'll probably write a tell-all book and people will eat it up.
Yeah, but I disagree with you saying she ought not see her kids. Black folks in jail, I believe, still get to see their kids.
ReplyDeleteWe all know there are many stories of blacks languishing in jail for things they didn't do. With DNA evidence, a lot are being released. It makes you wonder how many, who don't have DNA components to their case are in jail for something they didn't do. (for example, a robbery case where no one is touched)
However, with what you said, you went too far and I disagree with the not seeing her daughter point (btw, they're are, at least two daughters and one infant, not sure if the baby is a boy or girl.)
Let's not forget Charles Stuart, a white man from Boston who claimed a Black man killed his pregnant wife when, if fact, he killed her. Men perpetrate these types of frauds as well.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that disturbs me about these cases, besides the obvious, is that in the end, no one talks about WHY these criminals claim to be victims of minorities. I think the fact that they blame minorities in order to cover up such crimes says much about the perception of certain ethnicities in this country.
You're so right.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what's going on. It buys these criminals precious time and they know it will buy them time because our society still has a lot of change it needs to do regarding race.
There are so many negative stereotypes about minorities, esp. the big bad black man, that when you say a black man did it all hell breaks loose. The media jumps on it, the Amber alerts get sent out, the FBI gets called in and, in the meantime, the white person who made up a story is getting away (or, at least, has a bit more time to try to figure out a get away.)
What scares me is what about all of the cases where the lie was never discovered?